


Head Full of Shadows

by spacehopper



Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: M/M, Original Prague Police Officer, Self-Destruction, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 14:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13742658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacehopper/pseuds/spacehopper
Summary: Sometimes he couldn’t see past the shadows, the shit that surrounded him.Sometimes he didn’t want to sleep.





	Head Full of Shadows

“Is there a problem, officer?” Adam pushed in front of Alex. She’d had a hard day, didn’t need this crap now. And he could take it, and more. 

Alex glared at him, trying to elbow him away, but he ignored her. She hated when he riled the cops up, said it wasn’t why they were here. It’d blow their cover, and Janus wanted them to keep a low profile. Fuck Janus, he’d told her in a particularly heated moment, watching a little girl brutally restrained, held up by her ponytail while the police cuffed her hands. 

Janus wasn’t here.

The officer was a handsome man, around Adam’s age, tall and blond, with a cocky smile Adam was sure got him punched as often as laid. It seemed Adam’s intrusion was enough to turn his attention away from Alex, gaze drifting away from her, letting her fade into the background. He prepared for a demand for his own papers, or maybe a fist to his jaw. But instead the cop stepped closer, wrapped his hand around Adam’s bicep.

“Metal all the way up.” His eyes flicked down to Adam’s hands, which clenched involuntarily at the scrutiny. It would be so easy to plunge a blade into his chest. He’d be dead before he’d even realized what’d happened. And Adam and Alex could cloak; they’d get away, even if they were hunted afterward. 

It’d almost be worth it.

“You really are a shiny, aren’t you.” The cop used the term he’d mostly heard from other augs. From them, he let it run off his back. He understood their resentment, understood how much better he had it. But from this asshole? 

The cop reached up to trace a finger along the curve of the eye shield, and Adam recoiled, pulling out of his grip. The cop laughed.

“Can I see your eyes?” he said. His hand was on his gun, but his grip was slack. Habit. Not a threat.

“Is that an order?” Alex put a warning hand on his shoulder. She was ready to run if necessary. 

“No,” he said. He laughed again. He was looking at Adam strangely, a look he never saw on the cops here. Not hatred, no. Desire. The kind of desire someone had for a Navig Paradis car, or a Staněk watch.

Something to be possessed. 

He passed Adam a slip of paper, and without thinking, Adam took it. A number and a name. Matěj.

“Give me a call.” He smiled again. 

Adam wanted to punch him. 

*

He’d seen Matěj beat an augmented woman when her only crime was to ask for   
simple mercy. She’d grabbed his leg, half-delirious from withdrawal, begging for relief. He’d kicked her away in disgust, and when she’d attempted to get to her feet, he swept her legs out from under her. Later that night, Adam had seen him at the local bar, pantomiming how she’d cowered in fear and the sound of her choked screams.

Only a week had passed when he met the man again, outside that same bar. Taking a drag of his cigarette, he watched as Matěj gave a fellow cop a slap on the back, then turned down the alley. He asked for a light, and Adam have given it to him, the shadows clouding his features.

“You live around here?” he asked. A stupid question. There weren’t many augmented tourists in Prague these days. And no tourists at all in Překážka. 

“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate. Didn’t want to talk, eye shields firmly in place despite the darkness. Not that the darkness mattered anymore. 

“American, yes? And shiny. Not like most of these clanks.” He spit off to one side, and Adam’s lips curled in disgust. “I’m Matěj.” He held out his hand, like this was their first meeting.

Adam took it.

*

“I seem to have left them in my other arm.” The cop’s grip tightened on his gun, and Adam’s hands curled into fists. He had his papers, but he wasn’t in the mood for this shit today. 

“If you do not present your papers now, I will detain you with all necessary force.” The gun was drawn, the safety off. He’d never be able to shoot before Adam moved, his natural senses sluggish. But he didn’t want to deal with the crap Miller’d give him if he got into a fight. He held up his hands, and began to slowly reach inside his coat. 

“Hey, Adámek!” 

Matěj.

He walked across the street to them, slinging a friendly arm around the cop’s shoulder. The cop relaxed under the force of Matěj’s personality, rolling his eyes as Matěj babbled in rapid-fire Czech, too fast and colloquial for Adam to make out. After a minute, the cop waved Adam away, returning to his post, without ever seeing the papers he’d been so adamant he see. 

“Later?” Matěj said. A friendly clasp on the shoulder, and a small, satisfied smile.

Adam turned away.

*

“So, is this my thanks? It is a very good reward.” Matěj laughed as Adam knelt before him. His fingers twined in Adam’s hair, forcing him to look up.

“Oh, my darling Adámek, you know I prefer to see your eyes.” His finger lingered on the curve of the eye shield. After a moment’s hesitation, Adam retracted them, scanning Matěj’s bedroom behind him. Empty beer bottles, his computer unlocked, and old magazines tossed onto the counter. 

“Much better,” he said, running a thumb over the sensitive skin under Adam’s eyes. “I was worried you were mad at me for earlier.”

“Why would I be mad?” Adam said. Matěj unzipped his fly, then took a swig of beer. 

“Because you love using your smart mouth on all the police,” he said. A hand on the back of Adam’s head, dragging him forward. “But now I think you’ll use it on me alone.” He laughed at his own joke, the sound turning into a muffled groan as Adam took him into his mouth. 

“Clever, shiny aug,” he said, petting Adam’s hair. The taste was bitter, almost metallic. But when Matěj finally came, he swallowed it all down.

Later, Adam turned to go, tugging on his coat. But as he reached for the doorknob, Matěj called out to him from the bed.

“Stay, Adámek.” Adam looked back. Matěj was patting the spot next to him. “You always keep me so warm. Augs are good for something.”

Matěj curled around him, holding in him place with an arm slung over his chest, breath hot and close at the back of his neck.

Adam didn’t sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from [this song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esvw3fxlXXE)
> 
> [Navig](http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Navig) is car manufacturer in universe. Paradis I made up based on the name for the Cadillac Ciel.


End file.
